Faiblesse Des Sens Posted May 16, 2014 Report Share Posted May 16, 2014 I definitely consider this: http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2014/05/14/new-murasaki-baby-gifs-showcase-gameplay-features/ AAA. Can't wait for it to come out. What is big budget about this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted May 19, 2014 Report Share Posted May 19, 2014 I must have missed the Merriam Webster entry that states that AAA games are games that have huge development budgets. I would take AAA to mean a game that is of very high quality. Murasaki Baby looks like it is of very high quality. Ergo, Murasaki Baby is, in my consideration, a AAA title. On the other hand, if you think that huge budgets = AAA, then I guess you'll be counting Aliens: Colonial Marines as a AAA title... Which to me just seems wrong. If AAA is just an expression of the balance sheet it is, in my opinion, utterly pointless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted May 19, 2014 Report Share Posted May 19, 2014 I think AAA is analogous to the term "Blockbuster" for films. Big, expensive, heavily marketed, "major" games. High production value more than specifically high budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 (edited) I'd argue that even just "blockbusters" is a bit vague. They're not just your big games, they're the ones that are good and expected to sell well. So something small like Murasaki Baby doesn't really qualify and neither would something that is objectively shit like A:CM. Although I guess A:CM is an odd one, especially since the marketing was grossly misleading about the game's quality. But a game can aim for AAA status and miss the mark. AAA games are your Last of Us, Metal Gear Solids, Assassin's Creeds, Halos, etc... I wouldn't even include handheld titles, tbh. Edited May 20, 2014 by FLD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted May 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 I think AAA is analogous to the term "Blockbuster" for films. Big, expensive, heavily marketed, "major" games. High production value more than specifically high budget. Bingo. It has nothing to do with quality and never has. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FMW Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 Question: Do Nintendo first party games count as AAA? I've always figured they did. You have a game like Animal Crossing: New Leaf and it's a game that a large company spent a lot of time and manpower creating, localizing, and marketing. And it's high quality. The graphics are polished and are in the upper echelon of what's possible on the hardware (you always need to add that "possible on the hardware" line because otherwise even AAA output on PS4 wouldn't count because it's getting shit on by high end PCs or Pixar or whatever). That's I think what's important here. Not the type/genre of the games on the Vita, but the development resources put towards those games. When a game is made specifically for the strengths and limitations of a system, that's evident to the consumer. When a game has enough time in development to be fully realized, that's evident to the consumer. When a game is superior to other games on the same hardware in terms of graphics, you tend to notice that. It's not unheard of for a game to be ported to a different kind of hardware (console to handheld in this case) and be just as good as before, but that's not the most common outcome. Game design for handhelds is different than game design for a home theater experience. Visual design is different for a screen measured in inches instead of feet. The best handheld games are designed around the strengths and limitations of a handheld experience. THAT is what the PS Vita is missing. Games that take advantage of it's more esoteric hardware features. Games that make the Vita a more compelling purchase than a competing system. Games that you can talk about with other people and count on them having heard of it. It sounds shallow, but money matters. Nobody is saying that the PS Vita can't attract quality games under the current model. It can and it has. I say that there are specific benefits to well funded, original software content for a video game platform. And Sony isn't really trying to secure that. They aren't even making any themselves, far as I can tell. And no, AAA has no particular correlation with quality. I mean, I think they turn out better than other games by a slight percentage margin just because of the time and development resources, but they turn out like that Thief reboot often enough that they're never a sure thing. It's ironic that the PS Vita was built to pack so much processing power into it but so many of the games make little or no use of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 AAA is just a marketing term, may as well discuss which console has the most blast processing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 AAA is just a marketing term, may as well discuss which console has the most blast processing. Nintendon't 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 AAA is just a marketing term, may as well discuss which console has the most blast processing. That's my interpretation. I use it synonymously with "day one", "must have" or "double plus good". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 Your interpretation is double plus ungood. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 I apologise for my crimethink. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 As punishment you must write me a 5,000 word essay explaining that 2+2=5. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted May 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 Question: Do Nintendo first party games count as AAA? I've always figured they did. You have a game like Animal Crossing: New Leaf and it's a game that a large company spent a lot of time and manpower creating, localizing, and marketing. And it's high quality. The graphics are polished and are in the upper echelon of what's possible on the hardware (you always need to add that "possible on the hardware" line because otherwise even AAA output on PS4 wouldn't count because it's getting shit on by high end PCs or Pixar or whatever). That's I think what's important here. Not the type/genre of the games on the Vita, but the development resources put towards those games. When a game is made specifically for the strengths and limitations of a system, that's evident to the consumer. When a game has enough time in development to be fully realized, that's evident to the consumer. When a game is superior to other games on the same hardware in terms of graphics, you tend to notice that. It's not unheard of for a game to be ported to a different kind of hardware (console to handheld in this case) and be just as good as before, but that's not the most common outcome. Game design for handhelds is different than game design for a home theater experience. Visual design is different for a screen measured in inches instead of feet. The best handheld games are designed around the strengths and limitations of a handheld experience. THAT is what the PS Vita is missing. Games that take advantage of it's more esoteric hardware features. Games that make the Vita a more compelling purchase than a competing system. Games that you can talk about with other people and count on them having heard of it. It sounds shallow, but money matters. Nobody is saying that the PS Vita can't attract quality games under the current model. It can and it has. I say that there are specific benefits to well funded, original software content for a video game platform. And Sony isn't really trying to secure that. They aren't even making any themselves, far as I can tell. And no, AAA has no particular correlation with quality. I mean, I think they turn out better than other games by a slight percentage margin just because of the time and development resources, but they turn out like that Thief reboot often enough that they're never a sure thing. It's ironic that the PS Vita was built to pack so much processing power into it but so many of the games make little or no use of it. Sony and Nintendo both make both AAA and non AAA games. You're vastly underthinking this. Nintendo is a big company made up of many smaller teams and studios. Some get the big bucks and long development time and some don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 Is it possible to underthink about a BS marketing term? I feel like I've dedicated way more time to this than any normal person would or should. Murasaki Baby looks great and I'm excited for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 (edited) Thing is, it's not some BS marketing term. At least, not comparable to nonsense like "blast processing". Your interpretation of what it means is irrelevant because it actually means something specific already. Murasaki Baby does look great, it's just not AAA. And I'm not sure why this even needs to be pointed out. I mean, it's not like not being AAA is inherently bad or anything... Edited May 21, 2014 by FLD 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 Well durr of course it's something specific. All games, even before launch and release, are graded by the Grading Board of America (GBA) based on stringently ranked factors such as innovation, tightness of graphics and polish of levels before given a score between F through to AAA. And since it's a rigidly defined SI unit only those developers with games officially awarded an AAA ranking by the GBA are allowed to go on stage at events like E3 and PAX and talk about how thier upcoming game is a AAA experience. The GBA are also the organisation that hand out licenses for developers to make GOTY editions. it's a fucking bullshit marketing term. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 I'm not sure what's stupider, Dean. Your post or this actually getting its own thread... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 Well I could go put it back under PS Vita, but that actually is a specific thing. If AA wasn't a subjective bull crap marketing term, then please enlighten the rest of us, including the guy who has to make sure marketing don't actually make any false claims, on the "specifics" of what makes one game AAA and the other not. Or is "you are stupid" the best you got? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 Arguing specifics beyond what was already said would be a massive waste of time. Ethan's blockbuster analogy is good enough for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 I may have gone with an absurdist angle on my last posts, but at least I maintain consistency. So yeah, I agree on your "waste of time" part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 Lol. Because earlier I was saying that "blockbuster" is a bit too vague? I just figured that the distinction wasn't particularly necessary after all, since the gist of it remains largely the same. It's the big games. But hey, feel free to use my "lack of consistency" to convince yourself you're right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 Yeah, you're sending mixed messages on the whole, earlier calling Ethans definition being too vague, saying AAA means something specific (while you've yet to give these specifics) and then saying Ethan's analogy is good enough for you. I guess you slept on it. Give it another sleep and you'll likely be on the "it's bullshit marketing term" bandwagon. Ethan even says in his interpretation it's the heavily marketed games. Why'd you think you mentally associate "AAA" with "heavily marketed"? Meaningless bullshit marketing terms is what makes a lot of the games industry go around. Hence Ethan spending a fair chunk of today raging about the "gameplay" video for Arkham Knight. Of course Ethan also bought an Xbox One so... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 Well I've gotta find something on which to spend all this small-town lawyer money I'm pulling down... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 Pretty much all I did was drop the quality part of it, so the messages couldn't possibly be all that mixed. As for these specifics I've supposedly yet to give, it's all in my initial post but I'll just spell it out for you again: it's big-budget games. That's been stated numerous times and not just by me. I personally never said anything about heavily marketed but yeah, when these companies sink huge budgets into a product they're going to market the shit out of it. What a shocker. Still not sure how it's a bullshit marketing term when there's a widely accepted definition of what it refers to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 Go to gametrailers.com and click on a few videos. If you see the exact same ad for the same game more than three times in a row, then it's a AAA game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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